Maria Sharapova and 9 other athletes in doping scandals over the last 20 years

Recently, Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam champion, received a two-year ban from the sport of tennis by the International Tennis Association. The Russian tennis pro tested positive for Meldonium, which can enhance endurance. Sharapova admitted that she took the drug for several years, but claims that she wasn’t aware that it had been added to the list of banned substances. While this is shocking to her fans, she isn’t the only athlete to get caught up in a doping scandal. Here are some others who came before her.

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Alex Rodriguez

A-Rod is known as one of baseball’s greatest athletes. He is one of the most familiar faces of the New York Yankees and a three-time American League Most Valuable Player. Unfortunately, he also served a one-year suspension from the sport of baseball in 2014 for doping. After vehemently denying any wrongdoing, he finally admitted to using banned, testosterone-laced substances.

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Floyd Landis

Floyd Landis was the winner of the 2006 Tour De France, until he tested positive for synthetic testosterone and was stripped of his title. He held true to his story and continually denied the allegations, claiming the test must have been faulty. In 2010, after penning an entire book called “Positively False” about his innocence, he finally admitted that he had used performance enhancing drugs for the majority of his cycling career. Landis even implicated cycling great Lance Armstrong in the whole debacle. Of course, his allegations against Armstrong ultimately proved to be true.

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Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong is probably one of the most shocking on this list. Raise your hand if you never knew anything about the Tour De France until Lance Armstrong started dominating it. After winning seven Tour De France titles, Armstrong was implicated by Floyd Landis in a doping scandal, but he treated the allegations as just the desperate flailings of a shamed fellow cyclist. Well, it turned out to be true, and Armstrong was stripped of all seven titles and his bronze Olympic medal after admitting his usage of performance-enhancing drugs.

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Roger Clemens

Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young award recipient, was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in 2007 after returning to the New York Yankees as a pitcher. After denying any allegations of drug use, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2010 for lying to Congress about doping. In 2010, he settled a seven-year defamation lawsuit lobbed against him by the trainer who initially testified to Clemens’ steroid use.

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Jose Canseco

Jose Canseco is a well-known baseball player who shot to fame with the Oakland Athletics. In 2001, he retired from the game, but released a tell-all book, “Juiced”, where he admitted a lengthy history with steroid usage during his years playing baseball. He didn’t just admit to his own wrongdoings though — Jose implicated fellow players like Mark McGwire.

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Justin Gatlin

Justin Gatlin is a sprinting superstar. Unfortunately, he served a one-year ban from his sport for testing positive for banned substances in 2001 and served another four-year ban for testing positive for steroid testosterone in 2006. He managed to overcome the controversy and returned to the sport better than before.

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Tyson Gay

Tyson Gay was the second-fastest man in history, second only to Usain Bolt. He tested positive for anabolic steroids in 2013 and was suspended for one year by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Gay had his silver medal from the 2012 London Olympics taken away and his title/results wiped out.

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Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds was one of those baseball players that anyone could name and recognize. He made history by setting home run records and ultimately broke Hank Aaron’s all-time Major League baseball record in 2007. Unfortunately, he was accused of doping and convicted of lying to a federal grand jury, although it was overturned in 2015. His reputation never truly recovered.

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Mark McGwire

Mark McGwire made a name for himself as a power-hitter for the St. Louis, Cardinals. Trouble came knocking when McGwire was implicated by Jose Canseco in his book, “Juiced,” for using performance-enhancing drugs. In 2010, he admitted that he broke baseball’s 1998 homerun record by using banned substances.